[Shop-talk] The Duke Engine

[Elton E. (Tony) Clark]

On 9 March 2014 17:15, Karl Vacek <KVacek at ameritech.net> wrote:

> A more efficient internal combustion engine that's fascinating to watch in
> 
> action:
>

 I'd like to see some performance figures to go with all the claims and
generalities of the film.  I remember "Road & Track" magazine, back when
the world was all excited about the Wankle rotary engine, printed an
article which explored about TWENTY rotary, swash-plate, scotch-yoke and
other "interesting" engine concepts.  Back 20 years ago, R & T magazine had
a very astute engineering staff and they really got into the project.  I
recall that cooling presented a big problem on many and I'd speculate that
that could be a big factor in evaluating the "Duke".  The final summation
of the R & T study left one with the idea that the poppet-valve
reciprocating engine that provides about 99.9 percent of the auto power in
the world, has been under competitive development for over one hundred
years and it's going to be very hard to even approach it's "value" as a
power source.  The fact that electrics are getting all the push now  makes
any sort of a "gee-whiz" engine design even less likely to succeed, in my
mind..